282 miles driven, connected with approximately 20 more friends/family exchanged approximately 80 more hugs over coffee, drinks, dinner and brunch, 1 random coffee shop sighting, 1 more lovely stay with generous hostesses and an average of 2 coffees per day for both of us and 3 days of subzero temperatures! The budget will remain a mystery while we’re in Denver.
I am writing this post slightly early because tomorrow is the end of the week but tomorrow is also the day we get on a jet plane to Bangkok, Thailand by way of Munich, Germany so I probably won’t get a chance to write this recap in a timely fashion. I know, I know, most of you are like “isn’t Munich the wrong way?”. When we looked at travel time (approximately 20 hours total), total connections (two planes vs a possible 4), and cost (able to use some points toward the flights we wanted), we decided that two longer flights were better than multiple connections with short-ish flights and one loooong flight. Plus, this means we DO circumnavigate the globe…..which has been one of my hopes for this trip all along!
Normally we wouldn’t even contemplate going anywhere when the temperature gauge says -8, but we were keenly aware that we weren’t going to be able to see our friends and family again for another 5 months so out were trekked. Thank goodness Linnette had some warm gloves we could wear to get the car cleaned off & started up……Lordy it was cold! Stock show weather made us look forward to the heat and humidity of Southeast Asia for sure!
The Big Meander moved to Boulder to the home of our long-time friends Maureen and Susan for our last couple of nights here in the Denver area. What a lovely send-off we have received from them; good stories and tips from their experiences in Southeast Asia, good food, good conversation and a reminder of our lasting connection through the years.
Shout out to TL who we ran into at Bardo’s Coffee Shop on 38th Avenue while hanging with Joy & Monica for a minute. TL is possibly the only person in our acquaintance who has travelled more miles than us this year & it was crazy random to see her while we were both home! Here’s wishing you good travels friend.
This next leg includes almost 2 months in Southeast Asia, 2 weeks in Australia, a short stint in New Zealand and a 22 day trans-Pacific cruise back to San Francisco in late April. The last 5+ weeks in the U.S. have flown by and we’ve been so lucky to see so many of our dear ones while we’ve been here.
Next week’s recap will come to you from Thailand! We’re very excited but also a little nervous since this portion of our trip is waaay different than anything else in the meander. We are keeping our fingers crossed for smooth flights and good health as we move forward.
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